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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Idol Idle

You know how it is when you go on a diet? And you're all excited and committed and gung-ho, and you go to the grocery store and buy cottage cheese and pineapple and boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Then, somehow, it's two weeks later and you find yourself alone in your kitchen with a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips while you're waiting for the pizza to arrive? Yeah--that's what kind of happend to me this season with American Idol. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a fan, but for the first time since its inception, I've missed an episode. Or two, or--gulp--four. The season it was Clay vs. Rueben? I left my son's school Honors Awards ceremony early (after he got his Character Counts yadda-yadda ribbon) to see the finale.
And now...I haven't watched since Colton left. And, it's not like I had some uber-allegiance to Colton. I'm not one of those who says, "That's it, Idol! I'm through with you!" It's just that life crept in, and somehow catching up on my DVR just never happened. Odd, because I'm rarely one to prioritize work and family over good television, but there you have it. Everybody, it seems, is a little bored this year. Not much facebook chatter. Why, I remember last year frantically typing away on no fewer than three comment threads song-by-song, only to find myself now scratching my head because for the life of me I can't remember who beat Krystal Bowersox. Was it Lee DeWyze? It seems like the whole world has forgotten.
It was a season so full of promise--and, by and large, they kept to that promise. No real clunkers. Once curly-top popped, I could envision anybody winning. Even Hollie, after the last few weeks. Maybe a show is dull once everybody is turning in a good, solid performance time after time. Maybe the production value of the performances just became too exhausting. I kept waiting for exploding pianos or trees full of spider monkeys singing back-up. Maybe I needed a shorter program wiht fewer awkward duets or trios. I dunno...
I don't even know which songs the judges picked for each of the contestants, and yet I've lived a busy, productive life. I kept meaning to update my facebook status with a plea for Phillip Phillips to sing "Free Falling"--but never got around to it.
So, it's Jessica and Phillip. OK. No surprise on Jessica's part, and genuinely pleased for Phillip. The "winning" song was, traditionally, awful. Poor Jessica, perched with that awful ballad, while Phillip gets to sing the straight-to-the-insurance-commercial song.
For what it's worth, my vote's for Phillip. But then, this is a girl who missed out on story time because she was frantically dialing for Bo Bice...